


the moon hung proud and bright

by nightswatch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: First War with Voldemort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 08:05:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4911790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the day after the first full moon that Sirius spends alone with Remus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the moon hung proud and bright

**Author's Note:**

> Title is taken from "Home" by Mumford & Sons.

Sirius is glad that Remus has apparently managed to pull on his clothes on his own, because that means that he has no broken bones. Or at least that’s the conclusion that Sirius comes to.

“Moony...” he says when Remus stumbles over to him. Sirius wraps an arm around him. He didn’t get a good look at Remus’ face, but he’s sure that there was some blood there. Remus is trembling in his arms and Sirius needs to get him out of here, quickly.

They are in a forest, Sirius can’t remember which forest. He _should_ remember which forest. It’s a crisp autumn morning and the sun is just starting to rise, breaking through the evergreen trees. Their breath fogs in the air. For the first time, it’s just the two of them.

It’s the fourth full moon since they left Hogwarts, but they all made a promise that they’d still be around for the full moon, no matter what. Only now James is sick and is apparently coughing his lungs out and he doesn’t want to catch something worse somewhere in a dark forest in the middle of nowhere. James has apologized profusely several times during the last couple of days. Sirius has forgiven him for ditching them. Peter has _important business to take care of_. Sirius hasn’t quite forgiven him, even though Remus assured him that it’s not a big deal, that it would be fine.

“Why can’t he take care of that _important business_ some other time?” Sirius said yesterday morning when it dawned on him that it would just be him and Moony for the first time ever. He was scared that something would go wrong, that something terrible would happen. Sirius was never this scared of a full moon before. He realises that Remus must feel like that every month.

Remus frowned at him, already looking under the weather, poking at his breakfast with mild disgust. “I can go on my own, it might be–”

Whatever it might be, Sirius didn’t want to hear the end of that sentence, even though he knew that it wouldn’t be the first full moon that Remus would spend on his own. “Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not letting you go on your own. We’ll manage.” He sounded a lot more optimistic than he felt.

But they are fine, considering the circumstances. This is much easier when there’s three of them, though. Sirius hugs Remus to his chest, hoping that he’s not hurting him even more, and apparates straight into his own flat.

Remus’ flat is even more of a shithole than Sirius’ and Remus doesn’t seem to spend a lot of time there anyway. He comes over a lot and Sirius most certainly isn’t complaining. He likes it better when it’s not dead-quiet in the flat – even if the only noise is Remus turning the pages of the book he’s reading.

Sirius lowers Remus onto his sofa and sits down next to him, trying to assess the damage. There are streaks of dirt, and scrapes, a smudge of blood, and bruises, but no deep cuts as far as he can see. Sirius takes a deep breath. He’s no Madam Pomfrey, but he’s on a good way to convincing himself that he can, in fact, deal with this.

“Moony,” Sirius says lowly, “what hurts?”

Remus quirks a smile, but it somehow looks all wrong. “Everything, pretty much.”

Sirius wants to ask Remus what he needs, but he shouldn’t have to ask questions, he should just take care of him. The last few times they went to James and Lily’s place afterwards and James led Remus into their tiny guest bedroom and tucked him in while Lily made breakfast for them all. Then Peter excused himself and Sirius passed out on the sofa.

Sirius reaches out to rub at the smudge of dirt on Remus’ chin. “How about I run you a bath?”

“It’s all right,” Remus says and moves to get up. Sirius pushes him down again, gently but firmly. “Sirius, I can take of myself.” He takes Sirius’ hand, still lodged on his shoulder, pulls it away, but keeps it clasped in his own. “You can’t be there for every single full moon for the rest of our lives, can you?”

_Why not?_ Sirius wants to ask. But he knows why. Dumbledore has plans for Remus. For Remus especially, because of what he is. Not yet, but soon enough. Sirius dreads the day when Dumbledore will call on Remus. He fears the full moons he won’t be spending with Remus, even more so than he feared the one last night. “Well, I’m there now,” Sirius finally says and tries his best not to sound too irritated.

Remus looks like he wants to argue. He argues a lot these days, Sirius does as well, it’s the storm that’s brewing, the dark cloud that’s constantly hanging over their heads these days. There’s a war looming on the horizon and Sirius is tired of waiting for it to finally start. Then he looks at Remus and all of a sudden he’s willing to wait a little while longer.

For a moment, Sirius thinks that Remus will still not let him help and Sirius isn’t even sure what he would prefer, but he knows that he’s perfectly capable of putting Remus into a bathtub and tucking him into bed, so he’s inclined not to let him have his way.

Sirius stares at him, waiting for Remus to say something. Eventually, Remus nods and Sirius pulls him to his feet. He manoeuvres him down the cramped hallway and keeps his hands on him, just in case. Sirius’ bathroom is almost too small for the both of them, but it’ll have to do. He turns on the tap and waits while Remus very slowly pulls off his clothes.

Sirius could speed this up with his wand, but it’s still in the living room. He knows that he ought to keep it around, but his mind is on different, more important things right now.

The water sloshes when Remus lowers himself into the tub. There’s a huge bruise blooming over his ribs. “Are you sure you’ve not broken anything?” Sirius asks.

Remus nods and closes his eyes with a sigh. Sirius kneels down next to the tub and starts rubbing at the dirty smudges on Remus’ skin. After a while, Remus catches his hand. “Come on, Padfoot, get in here.”

“In there?” Sirius asks. Maybe he’s a little slower than usual because he’s had practically no sleep at all. So he just blinks at Remus for a moment. “It’s fine, I’ll take a quick shower later.” Or maybe he’ll just collapse on the closest even surface he can find.

Remus smirks. “There’s a twig in your hair and you look like you rolled around in a puddle of dirt.”

Which is, incidentally, exactly what Sirius did. Well, Padfoot did. “It’s too small,” Sirius says. He pulls the twig out of his hair, so Remus can’t use that against him anymore.

“We’ll fit,” Remus says and scoots into the middle of the tub, so Sirius can climb in behind him. And who is Sirius to pass up that sort of invitation.

Sirius pulls off his clothes and dumps them all on the tiled floor, grinning when he finds Remus watching him with a smile that looks almost appreciative. He gets into the tub and Remus doesn’t fit against him perfectly and, much like he expected, it’s not exactly spacious, but Remus hums contently when he leans back against Sirius and that’s really good enough for him.

Remus closes his eyes again, his head on Sirius’ shoulder, and Sirius kisses his temple and nuzzles into Remus’ hair – he can still smell the wolf’s fur, the forest ground, the wet leaves. “Bet Madam Pomfrey never did that for you,” Sirius says and kisses Remus again. He should probably try to get the dirt off his skin while the water is still warm, but he allows himself to be distracted for a moment.

Remus laughs, but it quickly turns into a cough. “Well, at least Madam Pomfrey wasn’t as fidgety as you are. Not even James made this much of a fuss.”

“I’m not making a fuss.” He just wants to be absolutely sure that Remus is all right.

“Of course not,” Remus says. He tilts his head and kisses Sirius’ chin, which is probably the only place he could reach. “You’re stubbly.”

“Yes, shaving is not on top of my list of priorities right now,” Sirius mumbles. “I do hope you’ll forgive me for this grave faux pas.”

Remus yawns heartily. “I’ll think about it.”

Sirius gives Remus a nudge. “Bed?” he asks, already climbing out of the tub. He wraps a towel around his waist, fetches one of the bigger ones for Remus and then he brushes his teeth because he feels like something died in his mouth. Remus has a toothbrush, too. Sirius isn’t quite sure when he brought it over. Maybe it’s been there all along. “I’ll find you some clothes,” Sirius mumbles and heads for his bedroom.

Remus hardly ever leaves any of his own clothes at Sirius’ flat. There’s a cardigan and a stray pair of socks that definitely don’t belong to Sirius, but that’s really all. Sirius gets a pair of boxer shorts from his wardrobe and hands them to Remus when he also pads into the bedroom. Before Sirius can find him a shirt, Remus simply plucks one from the heap of clothes on the old leather armchair by the window and pulls it on.

“Looking for a secret passageway?” Remus asks and nods at the wardrobe. He yawns again and sits down at the edge of the mattress.

Sirius clears his throat and turns away from the wardrobe. “I would have given you a clean shirt, you know?”

“I like this one,” Remus says.

Sirius likes that one, too. He bought it at a Muggle concert he went to last summer and he wears it all the time, but he thinks he likes it better on Remus.

Remus looks at him for a long moment. “Is it all right if I stay?”

Sirius doesn’t know why he keeps asking him for permission to stay. By now Remus should know that Sirius never wants him to leave. He nods anyway, because Remus is obviously expecting an answer. He often wonders why he didn’t ask Remus to come live with him in the first place, when they left Hogwarts. But it was all so new back then, and Sirius didn’t quite manage to muster the courage to just ask him. He can still do it, of course, but he never feels like it’s the right time. Dear old Mummy would probably die of the shock if she learnt that Sirius is living with a werewolf. He smiles at the thought.

Remus curls up on Sirius’ unmade bed and Sirius tucks him in, like James would. So far, Sirius thinks, he’s doing just fine. He kisses Remus’ forehead, something that James might do as a joke, and Remus smiles. “Why are you looking so smug?” Sirius asks.

“There’s dirt on your nose,” Remus mutters. He holds up the covers.

Sirius simply drops his towel and slips into bed and Remus wraps himself around him. He knows that Remus will end up at the other end of the bed eventually; he always tosses and turns in the nights before and after the full moon.

Sirius doesn’t wake up until there’s a loud crack in his living room. Remus, as expected, has moved, and curled in on himself. He doesn’t look relaxed, with his brow furrowed, but at least he’s getting some rest. His fingers are loosely wrapped around Sirius’ arm. Sirius carefully moves Remus’ hand and slips out of bed.

Since no one is standing in the middle of his bedroom yet, he can safely assume that it’s probably Lily who has come to check on them. He thankfully remembers that he’s buck-naked and quickly pulls on some clothes before he makes his way down the hall.

He finds Lily in the kitchen. “Sirius, I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

Sirius waves his hand dismissively. “How’s James?”

“He has his voice back and now he can actually _tell_ me that he thinks he’s dying,” Lily says and smiles at him. “But he also asked me to check on you. And I was making soup for him and I thought you might want some, too. Just heat it up when Remus wakes up.”

“Thanks,” Sirius says. He doesn’t really want to let on how incredibly relieved he is that he won’t have to cook for Remus. He doesn’t want to accidentally poison him on top of it all.

“How is he?” Lily asks. She looks Sirius up and down. “And you?”

He probably still has dirt on his face. “We’re okay,” Sirius says. He can hardly speak for Remus, but Sirius has seen him look much worse.

“Well, feel free to pop in any time when you’ve both got some sleep. I’m sure James would love some visitors,” Lily smirks, “since he’s on his deathbed.”

Sirius snorts. “Sure, we will.”

“Good, now go back to bed,” Lily says and gives him a hug. “And give Remus a hug from me, too.”

She’s gone with another crack before Sirius can say anything. He’s almost sure that she knows about him and Remus, but Sirius doesn’t want to ask, just in case that she doesn’t. Sirius sighs and looks at the pot of soup on his stove. James once said that the world didn’t deserve Lily Evans and Sirius is inclined to agree.

He goes back to Remus, who is right in the middle of Sirius’ bed and as far as Sirius is concerned that’s right where he belongs. He sits down, feet drawn up to his chest, and watches the rise and fall of Remus’ chest, which is, admittedly, a little weird, but he has a feeling that he won’t be able to go back to sleep. And he’s always been so fond of sleeping, but his thoughts won’t leave him alone these days.

Remus wakes up sometime in the afternoon. Sirius is upside down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, when he feels Remus move next to him.

“Why are your feet in my face?” Remus asks groggily.

“They’re not in your face,” Sirius says. “I’ll have you know, I took extra care not to put them anywhere near your face.” He sits up and crawls over Remus, propped up on all fours. He gives him a kiss, bumps his nose against his and then lies down next to him.

Remus pokes at his chest. “You weren’t wearing clothes earlier.”

Sirius grins. “Disappointed, are you?”

“Somewhat,” Remus says. He looks like he needs at least two or three consecutive days of sleep, Sirius thinks, but first things first.

“Lily brought some soup for us earlier,” Sirius tells him and then wraps an arm around him, “and she told you me to give you this...” He runs his fingers up Remus’ thigh and pulls him close, and kisses him until Remus laughs.

“Really? Lily told you to, um, ravish me?”

“Maybe I’m exaggerating slightly,” Sirius says and kisses him again, stroking Remus’ hair. “So, how about that soup?”

“I’m not that hungry,” Remus says and that’s basically him saying that he’s still feeling queasy. “Have you eaten?”

Sirius thinks that he probably doesn’t have to answer that, because Remus knows already. He rolls out of bed with a sigh and goes to heat up the soup with a tip of his wand. He gets a cup of tea for Remus and fills two bowls with soup, because maybe he can talk Remus into eating a spoonful or two.

They eat in bed – Remus puts his bowl down after a couple of bites, but he does finish his tea. When Sirius is done eating, Remus curls against him. “Did you ask Lily about James?”

“Apparently James is a big baby, but I don’t think anyone’s actually surprised about that particular fact.” Sirius pulls the sheets back up. “I said we’d drop by sometime.”

Remus hums. “Tomorrow,” he says. He’s asleep again no more than five minutes later.

Sirius closes his eyes as well and feels that he slowly drifts off to sleep. It seems easier when Remus’ head is pillowed on his chest. When he wakes up again, it’s dark and the room is only illuminated by the light of the streetlamps outside. Sirius peers out the window – the moon still looks full, the only indicator that it isn’t really is the lumpy shape of one very human-looking Remus Lupin next to him under the covers.

It’s cold in the flat, but Sirius still hops out of bed and ventures into the kitchen to find something else to eat. He saves the rest of the soup for Remus, but he has some not-quite-stale bread and butter, which has to be good enough, because he’s certainly not leaving Remus here on his own. He knows that he wouldn’t mind, but James, after he apologized, made Sirius promise that he’d keep an eye on Remus the day after the full moon and Sirius intends to keep that promise.

Sirius makes a quick detour to the bathroom. He considers having that shower now, but then he hears footsteps and finds Remus leaning in the bedroom door. “There you are.”

“Did you miss me already?” Sirius says and winks at him.

Remus huffs out a laugh and squeezes past him to get to the bathroom. “I do hope you were coming back to bed,” he mumbles.

“I’ll be right wherever you want me, my dear Moony,” Sirius says and curtsies before he stalks back into the bedroom, swinging his hips and smiling at Remus over his shoulder. That does tickle a laugh out of Remus, which is really all Sirius was hoping for.  

Sirius drops into bed facedown. His muscles are aching from a night spent running around as Padfoot and he’s really starting to feel it now. Remus returns not too much later and Sirius can hear the clink of what he assumes is a spoon in a bowl. He looks up at that. “I could have got that for you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Remus says and tries to brush his hand through Sirius’ hair. He doesn’t quite succeed. “Your hair is a mess.”

Sirius grunts. “I spent all night in some forest, maybe you’ll find a few more twigs in there, too.”

“No twigs,” Remus says and lightly scratches at his scalp. “How are you?”

“Fine,” Sirius mumbles into his pillow.

There’s the thunk of a bowl being put down on wood, then Remus’ hand is on the small of his back, slowly wandering up his spine. “Thank you.”

Sirius doesn’t quite know what to do when he wants to say _I love you_ instead of _You’re welcome_. “Moony,” he says instead and turns over so he can look at him, “why don’t you just stay?”

“I was under the impression that I was staying,” Remus says. He looks mildly confused and Sirius can’t really blame him. His thoughts don’t even make sense to himself.

“No, I mean in general. Why don’t you...”

“Move in?” Remus finishes when Sirius finds that he can’t. “Are you sure you want that?”

“I’m asking, aren’t I?”

“Actually, you didn’t really ask.” Remus smiles. “But I wouldn’t mind staying. _In general_.”

“Okay,” Sirius says. He’ll get a hang of this at some point, he’s sure. “Good.”


End file.
